Mascots
"Do you favor or oppose keeping Native American mascots for high school, college and other sports teams?"
Following are samples of comments
received from this week's poll; to ensure people's privacy the comments
have been posted anonymously.
"Why do we fight change when we're
changing a racist history? The mascot
is clearly an intricate part of a
school's culture, but over the past
fifty years we've had to change a lot
of racist traditions. I'm sure many
people cried the day Coon Chicken
changed its name, all the good memories
of fried chicken and happy times mixed
up with images of Sambo. But, if a
tradition is racist is it worth
protecting, or does it matter to us?
I agree that many supporters of Native
mascots onnly intend respect. However,
if a mascot has been used for 100
years, it was created at a time when
Native People were not looked at as
human by the majority of people, nor
were they granted any protections or
liberties offered to the Euopean
Americans at that time. The mascots
reinforced this dehumanizization. How
far have we come when today Native
Americans are still not able to
practice thier religions (many aspects
are illegal), are virtually ignored by
the mainstream society, host nearly all
of our nations nuclear dumps, and are
owed billions of dollars by the
government for land stolen from them
which has simply 'disapeared.' Is this
the Native America that is acknowledged
and celebrated through mascots?"
"I don't feel this is a voting issue. The
U.S. Commission on Civil rights
calls for an end to the use os Native
American images and team names
by non-Native schools. The
commission deeply respects the
right of all americans to freedom of
expression under the first
amendment and in no way would
attempt to prescibe how people can
express themselves. How ever the
commission believes that the use of
Native American images and
nichnames in schools is insensitive
and should be avoided. In addition,
some Native American and civil
rights advocates maintain that these
mascots may violate
anit-discrimination laws. These
references, whether mascots and
their performances, logos, or names,
are disrespectful and offensive to
American Indians and others who
are offended by such stereotyping.
They are particularly inappropriate
and insensitive in light of the long
history of forced assimilation that
American Indian people have
endured in this country.
"According to a poll of American Indians
on and off reservations conducted by
Sports Illustrated and the Peter Harris
Research Group, when asked if high
school and college teams should stop
using Indian nicknames, 81 percent of
Native American respondents said no.
Suddenly, the question is not about
racist stereotypes but about whether
Indians really 'care' about the
supposedly trivial issue. Since
(according to their poll) Indians don’t
care, they ask, is it really an issue
at all? Very intriguing. Indian Country Today
newspaper also conducted a similar
poll. Their results were quite
different. It could be because their
opinion makers’ list is comprised of
their active readers, among them
college students, tribal leaders,
educators and other professionals,
perhaps people who are of necessity
thinking more deeply about the impact
of mascots and other identity grabs on
our children. It is an extremely important issue for
Indian people, who are intent on
cultural and political survival as
distinct nations of the world, to own
and control as much as possible all
information and knowledge about our
peoples’ identities, and to influence
as much as possible just how such
information is presented. No
corporation, organization, school,
municipality, county or state can
afford to allow denigrating or
incorrect information or images about
itself to be consistently disseminated
publicly without response. Any of
these institutions would fight to the
teeth such an appropriation which
American Indians nations know all too
well can still set the stage for a
resulting loss of political and
economic respect and status, and that
might pave the way for the
appropriation of essential tribal
assets. Thus for each tribal Indian people
distinctly and also for Indian country
as a whole, the issue is not trivial,
regardless of polls or the spin-
doctoring opinions of media pundits.
And it is not going away. The attempt
of Indians active on this issue is
properly to disappropriate the image
and the text on Indian people from
those businesses, writers, artists,
broadcasters, directors, etc., who now
wantonly insult people of other races,
ethnicities and nationalities, as their
fancies will, in pursuit of making
money. Perhaps most importantly, the campaign
by Indian tribes and organizations to
remove Indian nicknames and mascots has
resulted in an estimated 600 school
teams and other sports clubs changing
such nicknames since the movement
started in 1969, when the University of
Oklahoma was shamed into dropping
its 'Little Red' mascot. After two
years of rancorous debate, the
president of the Massachusetts College
of Liberal Arts decided that "changing
times" dictated a changing of names.
Thus, the college’s sports team, now
known as the 'Mohawks,' will likely
soon become simply, 'The Hawks.' This action is respectful. This action
exhibits intelligence and integrity.
This is a display of mutual
affirmation. This is progress."
"I have a daughter who attended Issaquah
High and a son who will start there in
September. Frankly, I'm dismayed and
disgusted by the actions of the school
board to get rid on the Indian mascot.
This appears to me to be nothing
but "political correctness" and is
contrary to the opinions of the
community as well as those expressed by
the Snoqualmie Tribal Council. I have
not spoken to one person in this
community that is in favor of the
board's decision. I feel that the
school board members should be serving
the community, not making decisions
based on their own personal beliefs."
"Why not Pakistans? Chinese? Korean?
Catholics? Jews? The list goes on and
on."
"I am not a Redskin, a Chief, a Warrior,
a Brave -- I am Makah. I don't see
anyone doing my family dances or songs
in support of the team. When a team
becomes the University Makah's and they
do family songs and dances, then I
would object."
"I was recently in Santa Fe, NM. The
Santa Fe Indian School has the motto
outside 'Home of the Braves.' Let's
worry about something worth worrying
about - like running the county
efficiently!"
"I am appalled by how many people oppose
the Indian Mascot without seeing the
facts. Mascots have been around for a
very long time, this is for a game, so
we can cheer on a team, boost school
and team spirit. If we have a mascot
that we didn’t want, we wouldn’t really
cheer them on. Why change it now? They
win games and make a good name for
the 'Indians'. If people want to
say 'Kill the Indians' in a chant
against the other team, that’s their
fault, they should be punished, they
should feel bad that they hurt the
Indian name, the public shouldn’t have
to suffer with the loss of a school
mascot. I can see why people are offended by
the term 'Indian', but in reality you
can’t please everyone. At least some
people will be offended by anything
whether its food or animals or names. I
am sorry if we single Indians out by
calling them Native Americans, but its
cool to be different. Who wants to be
just like everybody else? If we didn’t
have the diversity that we have in
America, we wouldn’t be the United
States and powerful country that we are
now. You shouldn’t feel negatively
about who you are and what your culture
is, you should feel proud that you are
noticed. Questions to consider:
Why are the Native Americans who are
offended by the name 'Indian' coming out
only now? The term Indian has been
around for centuries and their
ancestors didn’t say anything about it.
If we have to change the Mascots
because some people are offended by it,
won’t it be right to change the City
names like Seattle, Issaquah, Sammamish
etc… because they are Indian too? I
mean, some people could be offended by
that, and we certainly have to please
them. If Bears and other animals could talk,
wouldn’t they be offended by the
mascots being 'Bears' 'Tigers' 'Panthers' etc…
won’t we be discriminating them?
Why do people make such a big deal
about people saying 'oh, you’re a
Catholic, Jew, Black,' people who are
white don’t make a big deal about
being 'White', isn’t that
discriminating them? Shouldn’t we say
Light Skinned instead of white, or
European or German etc…? We have to
say 'Native American' for Indian
and 'African American' for blacks. You
should be proud to be Black or Indian
or Catholic or Jewish, don’t hide
behind 'un-derogatory' names.
So quit feeling bad that you’re a
Native American, feel proud that you
are respected in this community, and
that we want to fight for your right to
be Indian, we like the Indians, that’s
why we say 'Go Indians' or 'Go Braves'
at games."
"The Church Council of Greater Seattle
is opposed to continuing the use of
Native American mascots because it is
demeaning and dehumanizing. Though
some Native Americans believe that it's
a matter of pride, many others feel
ashamed and humiliated. If we want to
be a compassionate and reconciling
community, mascots depicting Native
American images should be banned."
"I am all for keeping the Native
American mascots for the high schools,
colleges and others sports teams. Geez,
I have a lot of things to say about
this. Well, for one, I am an Issaquah High
School Graduate of 2006 and I love our
Mascot "The Indians", we respect it, we
don't make fun of it and we win a lot
of games. People shouldn't be mad about
having 'Indians' as a mascot, they
should be proud and happy that we
actually remember them, respect them,
make a good name for them, and that we
want them as part of our society.
Saying that we don't want the 'Indians'
as a mascot in our community is like
saying that we don't want them. If we
stop having Native American mascots, we
will soon forget them, they will
disappear along with the awareness of
their culture. The Issaquah Indians
have been around for a long time for
more than 97 years (since 1905), why
change it now? I understand the other side of the
story, and I'm sorry if we offend you,
but why see everything so negatively?
We don't mean to generalize the
Indians, but you're ancestors were
fighters, they fought for their land
and their culture when the white men
came, and we respect that, we "bow
down" to you, you are our idol. We show
that by having 'Indians' as our
mascots. We want people to remember the
Indians like we want to remember the
Alamo. We like the 'Indians', 'Native
Americans', 'American Indians' and it
should stay."
"I think that the white community,
especially in Issaquah but obviously
also in West Seattle’s Admiral
District, are not offended because they
sit in the position of being the
MAJORITY racial group and does not feel
threatened. Most whites do not know
what it feels like to be a minority in
a community. They cannot thus feel
threatened by being inundated with
cultural hypocrisy thrown in their
faces. Ask these questions in
a 'transitional community' and I'll bet
you get a much different answer."
"I am in favor of keeping the mascots.
I had spoken with one of the
schoolboard directors and she said we
can write, attend the meeting but the
schoolboard was already set in changing
the IHS mascot name."
"First of all, I'd like to thank you for
bringing up this subject my friends.
I'm glad to see you’re so concerned for
the Rights of Native Americans. I might
add also, that I do agree with much of
what people have written here. However,
there is quite a bit of important facts
missing, which is what makes it seem
incomplete. Let me explain what the
real and sometimes hidden problem is
with regard to Mascot names. I am a true Native Son of North America
and I myself take no offense at all
about mascot names such as, Indians,
Warriors, Braves, Fighting Sioux, or
Seminols. In fact, I really like them,
and I'm proud of them. It would be
idiotic of me to say I speak for all of
my countrymen but I know everyone is
smart enough to know that I only speak
for myself. I know it's difficult for someone to
understand what is offensive when they
themselves aren't the ones being
offended. So let me explain it like
this, so a Euro-American would
understand it. As it's been explained
earlier, some take no offense to a
mascot name such as 'Yankee' just like
I take no offense to a mascot name
like 'Warrior.' The solution is simple
here, because these names aren't
degrading. But what if we could come up
with mascot names like, 'Texas Trailer
Trash' or 'Washington Whities' or
perhaps the 'Hampton Honkies.' You
don't have to tell me these mascot
names would make your blood boil,
because I know they would. Weather or
not people giggle at it or not, someone
somewhere would be deeply wounded by
this hurtful name calling, and I think
your starting to understand how this
can sting a little, even when its
masked by innocence. You may be wondering by now, 'OK, what
part of this is offensive if He
seemingly likes the mascot names?' I’ll
tell you what's offensive... When
75,000 screaming Red Skin fans laugh
and cheer at the sight of a pig that is
completely painted red, and decorated
with Native American regalia and
crowned with a ceremonial Head Dress.
That, my friend is offensive! It makes
me furious that so many so-called
educated people, and people who
survived racial desegregation in the
60’s could be so blind and emphatically
stupid. Besides the obvious idiocy
here. My other daunting question
is; 'Is the Washington Red Skins mascot
a Native American Warrior, or a Pig?' Well, I don’t expect someone who grew
up watching 'Goof Troop' to have too
much knowledge about European & Native
American relations. Let alone American
Indian history. So let me give you a
brief history lesson in American Indian
Studies 101. RED SKINS: 'Where did this
name come from?' You ask. During the
early to mid 1800’s the US Government
was paying bounty for the scalps of
Native Americans who were not already
absorbed into the new European society
programs we now know as "Reservations."
These bounty hunters were paid $20 for
every adult male scalp, $10 for every
adult female scalp, and $5 for every
child scalp. This went on for quite
sometime until the US Government
learned that these lowlife bounty
hunters were duping them, by claiming
scalps were all adult males. Of course
there was no way of verifying this, so
the US Government demanded that the
bounty hunters turn in complete skins
of the dead Indians so that all doubts
would end. And this, is where the
name 'REDSKIN' was born. The bounty
hunters were paid according to however
many complete Redskins he collected. I know this is a dark and ugly part of
US History. It is very uncomfortable to
talk about, much like slavery. But the
facts remain and I would hope that as
HUMANS we could all learn from this
atrocious mistake. To close our eyes
and pretend this never took place is a
crime. But, I didn’t bring this up to
rub it in anyones face, or shout
out, 'You owe me!' Because the only
thing you owe us is the respect that
all humans deserve from one another. From one Human to another. I’m glad to
have shared this with you, and I hope
that we can grow from this, and
understand each other a little more."
"Sports teams are not called Baltimore
Blacks, Chicago Chinese, or Whitman
Whites. They should not be called
Indians, either."
"Because of the appearance of or actual
lack of respect for Native Americans
this practice needs to be dropped
immediately."
"I am a WS grad and I have no problem
changing the mascot, especially since
if it offends an entire racial
group."
"It is truly a shameful, rascist,
denigrating disgrace to reduce a people
to a sickening caricature called a
mascot. Equally loathsome, is the
refusal of the ones who promote this
abominable practice to see the pain &
humiliation it causes."
"the issaquah mascot has always been
about respect. i coached there for nine
years and never heard or saw any dis-
respect toward the snoqualmie tribe or
any other."
"Dear Ron, please take a stand to change
the mascots which dishonor Native
people. i attended the 'change the
mascot' pow wow at West Seattle H.S.
and was impressed with the united voice
and strong feelings of the Native
students and adults. thanks for
listening."
"This is America. It's a democracy.
Since no court in our country has
ruled that Indian team names are
offensive, or that these names violate
civil rights, we should leave this up to
the opinion of the Native Americans
as a whole. Listen to the MAJORITY
of Native Americans. If the
independent Peter Harris Research
Group poll that was published in
Sports Illustrated is correct (it claims
a 4% margin of error), and 81% of
Natives want to keep the names,
leave them alone. Majority rule."
"Just wanted to point out that the poll-taking is very inaccurate. At this
moment (6:37 p.m., 06-11), someone is
rapidly voting for the "opposed" side.
Even though the poll claims that only
one person can vote, this is easily
bypassed. The only true way to gauge
the community's feelings on this issue
is an official community vote regarding
the school board's decision."
"Hello People, I am a Native American from the
Anishanabe (Chippewa) & Assiniboine
Nakota (Sioux) Nations. I find it very
offensive that your people do not
understand why my people do not want to
be depicted in your culture. We honor &
respect our elders, children, mothers,
fathers, religious symbols, and
surrounding nature by how we use to
live and sometimes continue to live in
the white mans world. We have been struggling for over 500
years with the occupancy of our lands
that which was ours to take care of by
the creator. Your people have almost
white washed our culture to the point
of no return. If it weren't for our
elders for keeping our oral traditions
alive we would not be able to speak or
practice our traditions. With the continual misrepresentation of
my people by your people, I would hope
that your people would understand that
in time two wrongs do not make a right.
And what I mean by that is 'the taking
of our land and culture to the
continued taking of our land and
culture'. I would hope that you stop
using our symbols, faces, religious
symbols, names and anything else that
is considered to be Native American in
context. The only names that should
stay the same are the landmarks that
the local Native Americans named and if
they are mispronounced they also should
change to the correct pronunciation. I
could continue on forever but I think I
have gotten my point across. PS from my understanding the word
issaquah is a snoqualmie word for bear
paw and that the city of issaquah and
high school should change their name as
well. Thank you for your time."
"I went to West Seattle High School
(class of '77) and I think the name
should simply be changed to the
West Seattle Admirals. (West Seattle
High School is in the Admiral district
of West Seattle.)"
"To the Duwamish leader who endorses
W.Seattle's Indian Chief mascot. Are
you that desperate for self-esteem,
pride and oddly enough, 'identity'
that you got to lower yourself to be
honored as a sports mascot? Much less
grab some other tribe's chief as your
local northwest school's mascot? Why
don't you use your OWN tribe (be it
Duwamish or Snoqualmie/Issaquah High)
as your high school mascot? Meaning,
the full head-dress is Plains Indian.
The Plains Indians did not give you
permission to use their ancestors as a
northwest high school's Indian mascot!
Why are you generalizing all Indians?
To non-Indians: Coastal tribes did not
wear headdresses. You are not honoring
NO ONE when the school 'spirit' is
actually trying to portray 'wild and
savage'. FACT: INDIANS ARE FIRST
NATIONS PEOPLE. HONOR TREATIES
INSTEAD! Native people's were a peace-
loving people (as compared to the
european occupation). NEVERTHELSS,
Native people were considered
terrorists of that time for defending
their own homelands and way of life.
TELL THE TRUTH. TELL IT LIKE IT IS.
NO MORE STEROTYPES. DO AWAY WITH THE
INDIAN MASCOTS."
"Using Native American mascots for
sports teams is racist, even if in many
cases unconscious, as institutionalized
racism usually is. The harm is that
the team names (savages, redskins,
etc.) imply that Native Americans are
somehow less than human. It feeds into
the same kind of attitude that
permitted those of European descent to
kidnap people in Africa and enslave
them; permitted Hitler and his minions
to murder Jews, homosexuals, Jehovah's
Witnesses, people with disabilities --
anyone "different" was seen as "less
than", and therefore open to being
mistreated and even killed. I'm hoping
that as we become more enlightened, use
of Native Americans as sports team
mascots and for team names will end.
Thank you for having this forum for
people's opinions."
"If West Seattle keeps Indians as their
mascot, will everyone, including
opposing teams, use 'Indian'
respectfully? Historically speaking,
Native American culture has been
actively oppressed by European culture
in the US for hundreds of years.
That's not true for Cowboys, Steelers
or 49ers. High school isn't easy for
most kids, who are busy learning,
socializing, and developing their
identities. How is a vibrant, growing
young Native American person affected
by the use of his/her cultural identity
(and a generic one at that) as a
mascot? Is the name 'Indians'
respectful to Native Americans, in
Natives' opinions? While school spirit
and school identity add to a student's
experience, it shouldn't be at the cost
of ridiculing some students' cultural
identities."
"While being 'politically correct' is in
principle a good idea insofar as it
helps prevent discrimination, shouldn't
go overboard with it. Eliminating
Indian-based names for sports teams is
a good example of over-zealous
application of politcal correctness."
"I am half Native American. To me, the
braves or redskins (etc.) if you will,
makes a mockery of a race. The idea
that Native Americans are un-civilized,
blood thirsty sports figures? Tell me
this isn't racist. I take pride in who
I am. Even though I am only 17- I can
see beneath the costumes where hate and
discrimination lays. Maybe someday
others too will see this, and change
something that has been so blatantly
unconstitutional for far too long in
America."
"I gradulated from Issaquah High in
1989, my mother in '64. It would be a
shame to change the mascot that past
and future students would share as high
school memories."
"I am affiliated with the Snoqualmie Tribe.
I strongly oppose the use of Native
Americans as mascots for anything -- it
in no way honors us. It is very
degrating. Recently, abercrombie and
fitch produced t-shirts that
derogatorally represented asian people.
When the asian community protested, and
rightly so, the t-shirts were pulled.
However, when Native Americans protest
derogatory images and actions such as
mascots, our rights and concerns are
harshly dismissed. Mr. Sims, you are
an African American. How would you
feel about a team called the Savanah
Slaves that included charicatures of
slaves speaking broken english? And
then when you responded to this, you
were told that the mascot 'honors
African Americans', or that it is a
part of U.S./African American history,
or that your rights and integrity are
dismissed because racist alumni of
schools won't contribute if the mascots
are changed? I am sure that you would
not accept those answers. Or how about
a team named the Jacksonville Jews --
with a mascot whose chariciture was
similar to those used by Nazis in
WWII? It is very obvious that this
would never be tolorated! Why should
there be an exception to Native
Americans? Please support the
elimination of Native American mascots
in all areas. Thank you."
"I oppose keeping any kind of Native
American representation as a mascot
because it does not in any way shape,
or form honor people who have been
oppressed for hundreds of years from
Eurocentric means. Also, I don't
believe that other races would be very
amused if we fashioned their ethnic
backgrounds as 'mascot representations'
(ie. Kamikazis, Zulus, Rabbis, Fighting
Cholos, Kung-Fu Fighters, Hillbillies,
etc...)"
"We need to drop our arrogance and
listen to the people who are being
labled as mascots. If it is offensive
to them, that should be sufficient for
us to modify our behavior."
"I'm a member of the Lummi Nation and
some of my heritage is Duwamish. I've
watched this debate over time and
finally feel I need to say something on
the subject. I carry the name of Sealth
and want to educate people about names
and what my people's beliefs are. Your
name is one of the few things you
actually own. It is something that is
to be kept clean in the sense of always
doing it honor and respecting the work
and life of the ones that carried it
before you. In order to respect it and
honor it you must know about who
carried that name and and be willing to
learn and understand what they did and
what they stood for. This committment
isn't a once in a while committment it
is one that needs to be lived. I
wouldn't have many problems about these
organizations and institutions wanting
to carry these names if they would
indeed honor and respect them not just
merely use them as a logo. If these
groups would actually educate
themselves about these names and the
people they represent and truly show
them the respect that is said to be
there. Not by re-inventing the name,
meaning and history but by respecting
it for what it actually is. Which is
remarkable for their values, sacrifices
and accomplishments without need of
embellishment."
"Only someone with low self esteem
would be offended. We are talking about children. How do
they build self esteem when they are
either considered extinct or a cartoon
character?"
"You know what is amazing? How many
people say: 'I'm not offended by the
Cowboys, the Loggers, the Steelers, why
should you be offended by the Indians
or the Braves?' Those are jobs, people! Indians. That
is a race. No one would put up with the
Blacks, The Catholics or the Jews! Think about it."
"Native Americans are those most
affected by these mascots. Their
voices should be most respected.
Especially Native American students
attending schools with these mascots! This is about RESPECT for ALL!"
"I would change my vote if the 'tomahawk
and headdress' mentality were replaced
with a dignified representation. For
now, I'm opposed to a sports team being
called wasechu, indians, chinamen,
haulees or banchees. It is not
respectful of our diversified culture."
"We better get of the 'loggers' because
it is insulting to my forfathers whom
were loggers, then we need to get rid
of the 'vikings' because it stereotypes
my hertige, then we need to get rid of
the 'cowboys' because it offends....Where does it end???"
"I was a soph in '71-'72. We tried, so
hard, to convince folks that
the 'Indians' was racist, but we
couldn't do it in 1972. I can't
believe that we're having the same
discussion in 2002!"
"Mascots are suppose to be fun and only
a person with low self respect and/or
esteem would take umbrage with the idea
of a mascot as being personal. The real
problem is people feel that they are
due respect without earning respect.
Respect is earned and not automatic.
You also need self esteem. People with
self esteem aren't bother by the
trivial things people may say or think
of them. So to those of you who are
offended by this minutia remember there
are more important things in life then
what is some ones opinion of you or
your culture. Get on with life and
ignore the bigots and idiots in the
world."
"Thank you for the opportunity to voice
my opinion regarding the Native
American mascot issue. However my
husband would like to have voted as
well but is unable to because ot the
way your poll is set up to only allow
one user to vote. Surely many homes
with a computer have more than one
registered voter living there."
"Your poll is not fair. There are many
of us who favor the use of the name
Indians when it is used in a respectful
way and as a way of honoring the
Duwamish Tribe who helped the first
settlers in this area survive. It has
never been a mascot. It is the name of
our student body. I recognize that
there are inappropriate and hurtful
uses of Native American names and I do
not support such uses. It makes no
sense to try and correct some abuses by
erasing all references to Native
Americans. It takes away their history
and ours. The Duwamish people support
the continued use of 'Indians' by West
Seattle High School and their voice and
ours should be heard!"
"Yes, people are proud of their school's
history, traditions, & symolism,
however, stereotyping of an entire race
of people lends no 'honor'. Indian
mascots promotes & maintains
stereotypes, and creates such a
negative educational atmosphere for the
Indian students who are fighting for
the change. Get with it people -
Indians are not mascots!"
"The basic fact is that most people
really don't get it. On the surface
the use of a Indian mascot should seem
harmless and maybe even we indians
should feel 'honored'. The fact is
that the use of indian mascots do
affect our indian children. The
feeling of alienation, and the
disaffection from society at large
contributes to poor attendance, high
dropout rates and apathy toward
education. In a time when our children
should be looking to take their place
in this american society as well
educated individuals grounded by their
culture looking with hope to the future
they are slapped in the face in the
most important stage of their
developement. We as indian people
realize that you will never get it.
Take for example the West Seattle
Indians. Those powers that be do not
realize that they are proised to
experience their finest moment.
Instead they cling to their this
outdated practice. I realize that
there are many good and well
accomplished people who graduated from
West Seattle High School and have gone
on to greater things as result of their
experiences there. And if, as they say
they have the right to 'indians' as
their mascot because a Duamish leader
as endorsed them, then fine. You can
be the West Seattle Duamish. At the
very least you should honor their
nation specifically. This is the least
you should do since this is the only
recognition that they are getting from
any one. When the West Seattle HS
mascot is finally changed, we indians
are not going to gloat we will
celebrate with you and honor your deed."
"You will always find people to support
both sides of any issue. It saddens me
to hear 'There are Indians who are
honored by the use of Indians as
mascots'. As an American Indian woman,
I wouldn't have a problem if they were
using a person as a mascot if it were
one person that agreed to be used in
this manner! 'George' who could be
himself a mascot. You could have an
image of him drinking his coffee in the
morning. You could be the Fighting
Georges. However, it isn't just one
person, but instead a mass
generalization. I can and will only
speak for myself. It is not only
offensive to me, I feel it is simply
wrong. You can't measure the degree of
wrong. Not a little wrong if you do it
in this or that manner. Wrong is wrong.
It is wrong to portray living breathing
people in this manner. To state that an
image won't be use, but simply the
term 'Indian' is simply wrong as well..
Not a little wrong, but wrong. What's wrong with honoring a history?
Because we are not historical figures.
We exist. People seem to forget this.
If you want to talk history and
tradition, ours go back farther than
any of you can even imagine. The school, alumni and students may
have the best of intentions in their
use of this mascot, but I can guarantee
you, the opposing schools may or may
not. I have been to more than one game
where a school mascot was the Braves,
Indians, Warriors and so on where signs
were posted stating 'Scalp the
Indians'. We had people walk up to us,
put their hand up and say 'How!', or,
everyone's favorite; covering your
mouth with a Hollywood Indian whoop and
yell. You have no idea how demeaning
and threatening it is to walk through a
crowd behaving in this manner. It is
hurtful. Now, we were at a school that does not
have an Indian as its mascot, but a
school with Indian students in
attendance! People think this behavior
is OK. They don't see us as people any
more. We are a character, a
cartoon. 'One little, two little, three
little Indians...' We do exist. We have families, jobs,
telephones and cars. If you want to
honor us? Don't treat us this way.
Honor us by shaking our hands next time
you see us or simply say hello. We are
people who deserve respect."
"I think that its not honoring Native
Indians by having a masgot, we need to
be careful in how we honor cultures. I
respect the students for speaking out,
because they don't think this is a
correct way of representing a great
people."
"I beleive that changing a schools
mascot in mid-stream is a slap in the
face to all that have atteneded and who
will attend. This issue ofthe Issaquah
Indian mascot change was not handled
properly. Not one of the Indian Tribes
in the State of Washington is opposedto
this mascot. As a matter of fact, the
Snoqualmie Tribe (the most effected)
prefersto keep thecurrent Indian mascot
at Issaquah Sr. High school. The
school board refused to heartheir point
of view. To change this mascot now
is nota good communtiy thing."
"I oppose the use of and keeping Native
American (Indian) mascots for any
school or sports teams. Keeping these
mascots and images serves white
supremacy and domination. It's
institutional racism reinforced."
"It seems to me that the school boards,
representing the citizens (taxpayers)
of the school districts, should follow
the wishes of those they represent.
Isn't that what elected officials are
elected for? In the recent cases of
Issaquah and West Seattle High Schools,
not only the citizens favor keeping the
names, but the tribes in each district
support retaining the current
nicknames. If it is favored by those
who the school board are trying to
protect, then it is very clear that the
board has no right to disagree and must
allow the nicknames to remain."
"Next time you see a Native person
make some observations, see how
often they wear a feather headdress,
or carry a tomahawk, or wear
war-paint; see how often the
depictions of Native people by
mascots match a real-world Native
American person. I think it's
interesting that our society needs
create caricatures of Natives to find
positives, rather than seeing
positives in actual real-life Native
people."
"I am so proud of those students
especially Ms. Joe for taking this
stand and not dropping it! I support
them and thank them!!"
"Ron. It would be great if todays young
adults focused their attention in a
direction which would improve our
society. And also spend more time
consentrating on their own education
and improving their odds to succeed in
this fast changing world. It all starts
with them...not a mascot."
"Let's get along in life and stop
worrying and whining about such trivial
matters. Obviously, people don't have
anything to do and come up with this
mascot nonsense to justify their
existance in a government welfare
position."
"I am speaking only from the stand
point that I am an alumni of West
Seattle High School. We as past
students were taught to honor our
forefathers, and as far as West
Seattlies were concerned the indians
that greeted us at Alki were our
friends and forefathers. The name
the West Seattle Indians was to
honor their friendliness and support
of those who came to the shores of
Alki. what is wrong with the tradition
of honoring history? Are we so
politically afraid of our own shadows
that we want to give up a time
honored name? Come on people
look beyond the lawyers and
politicians and vote your heart."
"I am the president of the West Seattle
High School Alumni Association. The
issue at West Seattle is not about
the 'sideline mascot', it is about
retaining the Indian name and symbol."
"I feel very strongly that the Native
American mascots are a tribute to our
Native Americans. As a student and
alum of West Seattle High Schoo I
looked at the Indian mascot as a
logical and fitting historical
representative. Alki Point was where
the settlers first landed in Seattle.
This seemed to be obscured in the city
as the government and commerce were
located elsewhere. Therefore, the
Indians were a reminder of our
community history. The symbol used was
Chief Seattle in his full headress. I
did not think it appropriate when, some
years later, a caricature was on
decals. At the time I thought of
protesting that, but didn't. It was
very demeaning. When there is a
logical reason to honor the Native
Americans with a symbol and mascot for
a school, I do not find a thing wrong
with it. Perhaps the administration
and staff of the organization need to
help the student government educate the
general school population of the
history. I never could understand why Ballard
did not honor the fishing industry in
its' community. Beavers never made
sense to me. Fish or fisherman would
have been more logical. You may think that is contrived, but
because we were Indians, I grew up
believing mascots were picked for a
reason. Franklin High were the
Quakers. All of the animal choices
seemed illogical."
"Keep the name indians lets leave
everything as is was and go on about
keeping our country safer than before
9/11."
"This is more of a political-correctness
issue than anything else. In other
words it has been politicized by
various interests for a variety of
reasons. It helps promulgate
the 'victimization' cant, that helps
drum up public dollars."
"Who decided that West Seattle's mascot
should be an Indian? How was it
decided? I'm sure that the majority
agreed that it was a good thing. The
fact that students want to be called
Indians, should mean that they like
the name and agree with what it
means. I certainly would not want to
be on a sports team named the Nazis,
like a previous letter mentioned.
What is the difference between naming
a school team after the Indians, or
having a street named after Martin
Luther King Jr.? I think that if the
Indians logo were depicted in true
form, it should be an honor to have it
displayed. Keep the mascot !"
"WOW!! Sounds like alot of people don't
have enough to do. The Indians seem to
think that it is an honor to have
schools and teams named after them. So,
if we change all these names are we
going to change street names, County
names, names of cars. Hey folks go
adopt a park so these abused people can
enjoy games together. Forget the titles."
"I favor keeping the mascots as they
are, however, I propose better and more
accurate representation from the local
tribes. For instance, if West Seattle
keeps their Indian mascot, it should
accurately depict a traditional
Duwamish Native American. The head-dress and other garments should be
researched and the students (and
perhaps the alumni) should have access
to educational material to help us
better appreciate those whom our mascot
represents. I am a WS grad. If, after careful consideration, the
board decides to eliminate the Indian
Mascots, I hope/expect there to be a
place of honor (shrine?) set up in the
individual schools where the outgoing
mascot could be displayed. A writen
tribute and explanation should honor
the memory of the mascot. Let's not
throw away decades of tradition without
showing our respect."
"I cannot understand why, in this day
and age, there would be so many people
who dislike American Indians (or as is
currently the fad, called Native
Americans, but more properly should be
referred to as Indegenous People). You
name a team after someone or something
that you respect and admire. Why all
this hate toward 'Native Americans'?"
"These mascots are demeaning. A lot of
Native American people have spoken out
against them. Even if a few Native
American people disagree, the government
should not be offending large numbers of
people, Native and non-Native by these
mascots."
"I think it is so important to listen to
and honor a person's heritage and their
feelings of institutional oppression.
We must be mindful of images that to a
white person seem 'simple' yet
perpetuate stereotypes. I am angered
that white people are claiming these
Native American symbols and charactures
are their 'history.' So often white's
ignore their true history, which is why
these images become so important to
them. We must listen to the people who's
history is tied to these symbols. It
doesn't matter what us whites think,
meant or intended. For no matter how
well intentioned, or how thoughtful or
unthoughtful, these symbols are
offensive and they must be changed.
Let's listen to those we've hurt, and
react in a way we would like to be
treated."
"As an Alum of West Seattle High School
and as former Assistant Principal of my
Alma Mater, I find it extremely
offensive to keep the name West Seattle
Indians. Native Americans are not
Mascots. Too often at the athletic
events the over excited fans
chant 'kill the Indians, scalp the
Indians' etc. THIS MUST STOP."
"It is extremely disrespectful for teams
to use Native American mascots. King
County should be a role model for the
rest of the nation and ensure that all
Native American mascots are
eliminated. I am a teacher in the
Seattle School District, and am
embarrassed to work for an organization
that allows this to continue. What
kind of message are we sending to our
students?"
"This is a question of respect. If one
Native person is disrespected then the
team has failed to produce the 'honor'
they seek to bestow. It makes no
difference if one Native or 100,000
Natives like the mascot, if one Native
American is disrespected than the
intention has failed. Beyond that,
let's be real, many of these teams had
no real intention to honor. America has
a history of co-opting Native land,
symbols and spirituality, should we
allow this to continue? Maybe when
every treaty has been fulfilled and
environmental racism ceases to exist on
almost every reservation in the
country, then we can decide it is time
to honor. Until then, lets work on
honoring America's promise to Native
tribes. "
"If naming a team after a group is a
dishonor to the group, why not call
them the Nazis? Everyone hates them."
"As a student and soon to be alumni at
Issaquah High School, I feel that the
decision made by the school board is a
personal one that should be left up to
the community decide. If the popular
opinion, at least in the Issaquah area,
was to do away with the Indian mascot,
then I think that people would
generally not have a problem with
changing."
"The fact that we would still even
consider using Native Americans as
mascots shows how uninformed and
insensitive we are as a society. The
fact that a society that prides itself
on its educational system could leave
so many people uninformed and
misinformed shows how institutionalized
the problem is. The fact that policy
makers are still debating the issue
shows how insensitive public policy is
to significant groups of our citizens.
We should all be outraged and
embarassed about this situation."
"With short falls in all budgets it is
stupid to consider politically correct
foolishness that is not requested by
anyone but politicians. The Indian
tribes want the name Indians to be used
by West Seattle, leave it alone."
"When a school or a sports team choose a
mascot, they choose something that
they, and others will honor. We have
professional sport teams calling
themselves, Patriots, Cowboys,
Steelers, Saints, and 49er's. Are we
dishonoring steel workers, gold minors,
men who helped settle the west, and the
men and women who defend this country?
Why do a few people with foolish
agenda's try to tell others how they
should feel and what should be
considered politically incorrect."
"As a Franklin High grad (65) I understood
the Quakers took issue with being a
mascot for Franklin. Mascot was changed
to the 'Earthquakes'. If it's ok for
the Quakers (and I'm not sure how many
there are), why not ok for Indians?
Also, no ones trying to change the
past, just the future. Kids have
enough problems in schools today and if
Indian mascots bother Indian kids, then
it should be changed."
"I really would defer to Native
Americans whose symbols we use as
mascots. My Native American friends
are VERY offended by the use of their
symbols and tribal names as mascots."
"As an American Indian and graduate of
West Seattle High School (Indians) I
hope would hope that MY vote would
weigh more heavily than other non-
Indian persons. I am very much in
favor as are the local tribes, majority
of Native American students at West
Seattle, majority of Native American
alumni of West Seattle, and the West
Seattle Community at large of keeping
Indians and all such mascots, symbols
and logos for our schools."
"I am a Native American and I believe
that any positive recognition we can
get is good. Being mascots for
sporting advents show that we are a
strong race and once were mighty
warriors. So Ron, is there a Native
American Month?
"
"Letters of support have been written by
several tribal leaders for retaining
Indian names. These names were selected
in order to honor the Indians, so why
not keep them?"
Updated: June 13, 2002
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